Official 2007 NHL Playoff Thread

[ollie]

Ottawa will host its first Stanley Cup final game in the modern era on June 2. Scotiabank Place is also the site of Game 4 two nights later.

Will the Sens be sharing the ice with Roger Waters then?

[AD]

I hope Volchenkov takes him out with a hipcheck. Just for the hilarity.

[ollie]

I hope Volchenkov takes him out with a hipcheck. Just for the hilarity.

Anyone have a picture of Anton taking out the first two rows of Buffalo fans when he knocked that glass panel out of place?

[Kanada Kev]

Just got this sched here at work. Still doesn't address Roger Waters on June 4th!? wtf?

HNIC Stanley Cup 2007:

Event# Revised Date

1 MON MAY 28

2 WED MAY 30

3 SAT JUNE 2

4 MON JUNE 4

5 WED JUNE 6

6 SAT JUNE 9

7 MON JUNE 11

[phorbesie]

maybe it will be an afternoon game?

[Freak By Night]

Roger Waters show will be re-scheduled or cancelled.

[AD]

Roger Waters show will be re-scheduled or cancelled.

Welcome to Canada!

[Kanada Kev]

Ducks looked great last night. Where did the Wings disappear to?

Chelios? Man, what a lame "trick" to draw that penalty at the end of the game. Even more classless was the fact that he left the ice and didn't shake hands with the Ducks. Lame. Wonder if he trashed his hotel room last night (just like he and those other winners on Team USA did at the Olympics).

++++++

The Stanley Cup Handshake Conundrum

You could feel the relief a continent away as fans in Anaheim rose to salute their team on Tuesday night. A skittish bunch of Ducks had (barely) held off a late Detroit charge and advanced to the Stanley Cup Final.

Amidst the celebration, television cameras caught veteran Detroit defenseman Chris Chelios shaking hands with the Ducks' coaching staff. "Classy move," cried Greg Millen of Hockey Night in Canada. Then Chelios went straight to the locker room. "Not so classy there," said Millen.

Chelios had commited a hockey faux pas. He had skipped the traditional players' handshake at center ice.

It's not the first time Chelios has taken a pass, and he has plenty of company. Hall of Fame goaltenders Gerry Cheevers and Billy Smith were among those known to skip handshakes. When Detroit won the 1954 Stanley Cup, only one Montreal player stuck around to offer congratulations. "There undoubtedly has been far more abstaining than we've realized, because nobody records the results on the gamesheet or breaks down the video," notes Terry Frei at ESPN.com, who says the ritual should be optional. "Don't do it if you don't want to. No recriminations. No criticism."

Easier said than done. "I've always thought it was a matter of integrity." said one of Smith's old teammates, Dennis Potvin. "You lose the game; you don't lose your integrity."

A Red Wings fan will be inclined to excuse Chelios. His unwillingness to face the handshake shows that he cares so much, he hates to lose, he's such a competitior, etc. To a less sympathetic fan, he's just a jerk.

[ollie]

I read somewhere that Chelios never shakes hands. Is this true?

I love the handshake but if the occassional player wants to hightail it to the locker room, I think that's cool too.

[SmoothedShredder]

Armageddon!!

Brett Hull will join Don Cherry on Coach's Corner during Game 3, then Cherry gets does his thing for NBC viewers in the second intermission of Game 4. I think this will be less traumatic on Canadian viewers than the other way around. Interesting synergy!

Some other broadcast notes. CBC will have a half-hour pre-game show for Games 1, 2 and 7 - weekdays.

As noted elsewhere, Millen joins Bob and Harry in the booth since he did two Sen games and some Duck games so HNIC has someone who actually knows the names of players from both teams.

[SmoothedShredder]

[SmoothedShredder]

Who will win the Conn Smyte

Pronger

Neidemayer

Jiggy

A Guy from the other team : 50%

Suck it Leaf fans.

[SmoothedShredder]

[Kanada Kev]

The reason that NBC isn't covering the hockey game tonight:

http://www.damnfunnypictures.com/html/Miss-Universe-Costumes.html

And Bettman thinks that people would really rather look at this?

[rubberdinghy]

as if miss canada is wearing a leafs sweater

[Kanada Kev]

Oh yeah baby ... check out those boots!

[Booche]

Hahahahaha.

You rock Kev.

[Davey Boy 2.0]

ditchpig

[Kanada Kev]

Nobody said that they were the greatest spellers in Anaheim. Give 'em an A for effort

[bradm]

Nobody said that they were the greatest spellers in Anaheim. Give 'em an A for effort

Maybe they meant something else...

Aloha,

Brad

[Davey Boy 2.0]

TRUTH & RUMOURS: MEDIA: BROADCASTING NBC measures up to CBC

--------------------------------------------------

WILLIAM HOUSTON When it comes to televising a hockey game, NBC can't match the experience and reputation of the CBC's Hockey Night in Canada .

But the U.S. network compensates with a big effort and an aggressive up-close approach.

It paid off handsomely on Saturday. NBC, producing its first Stanley Cup final telecast of the postseason, equalled and, at few key points, bettered the CBC.

The big miss for the Canadian network was failing to note that the Anaheim Ducks had been caught on a late line change and had only four skaters on the ice when Anton Volchenkov scored the Ottawa Senators' second goal.

NBC game analyst Ed Olczyk spotted it immediately and used a telestrator to check off the four Ducks on the ice, making note of the missing fifth.

It was never reported by the CBC.

On Anaheim's first goal, NBC noted that Ottawa goaltender Ray Emery had lost his stick after being brushed by his own defenceman.

The CBC didn't report that until Don Cherry brought it up in the first intermission show.

NBC's third man, Pierre McGuire, who sets up at ice level between the benches, brings the viewers about as close to the action as possible. His interview with Senators coach Bryan Murray at the bench during a stoppage in the first period helped advance the main story, which was the Senators' mood after losing two games in Anaheim.

At the end of the second period, McGuire grabbed Ottawa's Mike Fisher on the ice before he left for the dressing room. The CBC's rinkside reporter, Elliotte Friedman, gets good interviews and provides strong information, but McGuire's location gives him the advantage.

CBC announcer Bob Cole had a poor night. He was behind the play, was spotty in identifying Ducks players and got a few wrong. The most obvious misidentification was his referring in the first period to the Senators' Joe Corvo as Dany Heatley.

Both networks delivered some strong commentary. NBC's Ray Ferraro didn't hold back when asked about the work of Ottawa's Jason Spezza in the first two games. He said Spezza had been "jittery, confused and intimidated." The CBC's Kelly Hrudey came down hard on Emery, who has allowed soft goals and big rebounds. Hrudey suggested the radical move of pulling him for Martin Gerber, despite Gerber's inactivity for most of the regular season and playoffs.

The CBC's camera work continues to be first-rate. The picture was often ahead of the commentary. After the Volchenkov goal, the camera found Anaheim coach Randy Carlyle barking at one of his players, a signal that something had gone wrong.

When game analyst Harry Neale was telling us that Spezza had gone to the dressing room for repairs, the camera showed him standing behind the bench waiting for a jersey.

The verdict on Ottawa captain Daniel Alfredsson's disputed goal, which was waved off by the referee but then deemed good by the video reviewers, split along network lines.

The CBC broadcasters believed it had not been deliberately kicked in and, therefore, was correctly called a goal. NBC's analysts thought otherwise, although Olczyk, like his CBC counterpart, Greg Millen, wondered whether Alfredsson's follow-through made it appear as though he had directed the puck.

The CBC's pregame show contained plenty of good content, most notably the piece on Murray and his family's roots in Shawville, Que.

But Hockey Night should stop inflicting us with setups involving fans outside the arena, the ones in which adults wearing Senators jerseys bellow into the camera: "Stay tuned when the Ducks take on the Senators in our house," followed by the inevitable "On Hockey Night in Canada - woooo." When Hockey Night does that sort of opener with minor-hockey players during the regular season, it has a certain amount of appeal and charm because, after all, they are kids.

But watching this from loud, middle-aged people, not once but twice in the pregame show, is not amusing or appealing. It's just stupid and irritating.

Hull and Cherry NBC's Brett Hull joined Don Cherry on Coach's Corner on Saturday, but the two high-profile commentators didn't produce much that was interesting or entertaining.

Part of the problem was the setup. Hull took Cherry's spot beside host Ron MacLean, with Cherry standing behind them. But how can you carry on a conversation with somebody you can't see? The three should have sitting together in front of the camera.

And more effort was needed from MacLean to get Cherry and Hull engaged. The two will try again tonight when they team up during NBC's telecast of the fourth game.

[dave-O]

I did a lot of flipping between the two broadcasts on Sat night. A perfect example for comparison - on CBC Bob Cole was speculating about Peter Mansbridge's wife whispering "sweet nothings" into his ear while simultaneously on NBC, Pierre McGuire was breaking down a bad line change that lead to a scoring chance.

McGuire between the benches is the best addition to NHL coverage in recent memory. Move over glowing FoxPuck!

[ollie]

Hull and Cherry NBC's Brett Hull joined Don Cherry on Coach's Corner on Saturday, but the two high-profile commentators didn't produce much that was interesting or entertaining.

What a brutal segment! Cherry might as well have had Brett's cack in his mouth the whole time. Hull's story about getting kicked out of practice was facking inane!

Nice comparison of the two network broadcasts though.

[rubberdinghy]

Fuck Pierre Mc-fuckface.

Bob's bad call of the game is just that bad...however is very entertaining.

[Kanada Kev]

Spot on. Thanks for posting that. While I was watching the game slightly delayed (i love my PVR) I didn't get to switch over to NBC. Neale and Cole were driving me nuts all night though. They HAVE to get rid of them for next season. I'm so sick of listening to their crap.

Great quote from Neale pre-game, regarding what the Sens had to do:

"The Sens have to do less, and they'll win"

WTF!? I'm sure he was trying to insinuate that they should be simplifying their game? Whatever the case, it sounded completely absurd and non-professional. No wonder he was a failure as a coach!